Oral history interview with William McGee

Abstract

William McGee is a retired senior programmer at the IBM Santa Teresa Laboratory. McGee received the AB degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949, and the MA degree in physics from Columbia University in 1951. From 1951 to 1959, McGee managed the numerical analysis unit at the General Electric Hanford Atomic Products Operation in Richland, Washington. Between 1959 and 1964 he led systems programming and research at Ramo Wooldridge Corporation in Canoga Park, California. McGee joined IBM in 1964 as a staff member of the Palo Alto Scientific Center, where he specialized in physics applications, computer graphics, and database systems. In 1969 he received an Outstanding Contribution Award for work on Data Base/Data Communication requirements and strategy. In 1970 McGee joined the DB/DC development group in Palo Alto, where he managed the DB/DC Architecture Department. Other work in DB/DC development included performance evaluation, distributed data requirements and planning, and data dictionary planning and development. McGee retired from IBM in July 1992.